Two Poems by Daniel Barbare

I’m going into battle
says the janitor
There will be stains
of Kool-Aid on the
linoleum.
I’ll fight till my eyes
see the glory of the
end of the day
Or until I bleed at
the tip of a mop, or
through and through
the whisper of a
broom till
The building is clean.

The Janitor’s Clothes

Wearing a blue shirt
and pair of pants
I like my job,
Because when I get
down to the dirt
of things
That is how I learn
to shine.

Danny P. Barbare works as a janitor at a local YMCA in Simpsonville, SC.